1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a titanium alloy excellent in weldability or joinability as a material for various titanium alloy members such as a pipe or so used in industrial fields of aerospace, chemistry, oil well drilling and the like, and further relates to a method for producing the titanium alloy members such as the titanium alloy pipe and a joined tubular body made of the titanium alloy.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Generally, a titanium alloy is superior in strength per unit mass and excellent in corrosion resistance and the like, therefore it has been used widely in industrial fields of aeropsace, chemistry, oil well drilling and so on.
The titanium alloy or titanium alloy member is joined through various joining methods such as TIG welding (tungusten inert gas arc welding), MIG welding (metal inert gas arc welding), friction welding, electron beam welding, laser beam welding, diffusion welding, brazing and the like.
In any joining methods, however, the titanium alloy base metal adjacent to the joined zone changes its property and deteriorates in its mechanical properties owing to the thermal effect at the time of joining, and it is difficult to ensure joint strength equivalent to the strength of the base metal in most cases. Accordingly, there has been a problem in that development of a titanium alloy of which quality is not deteriorated so remarkably by the thermal effect at the time of the joining is earnestly cried for.
On the other hand, in order to further make the most use of the excellent characteristics of the titanium alloy in the aforementioned industrial fields, it is dispensable to manufacture titanium alloy pipes from the titanium alloy. However, as conventional techniques for manufacturing the titanium alloy pipes, a few methods have been merely put to practical use, such as a method of bending the titanium alloy formed in a thin sheet into an O-like shape through a U-like shape and joining a seam of the titanium alloy sheet bent in the O-like shape, and a method of forming the titanium alloy pipe directly by cutting a titanium alloy block through machining.
However, in a case of the welded pipe which is manufactured by joining the seam of the titanium alloy sheet subjected to the so-called U-O bending, there is a problem in that it is difficult to manufacture the pipe with a thick wall since there is a limit in forming of the titanium alloy sheet.
Further, there is another problem in a case of the titanium alloy pipe by machine cutting in that cost of the pipe increases because the yield rate of the titanium alloy material and the production efficiency are remarkably low, though there is large room for selecting shapes and sizes.
Furthermore, it is also indispensable to join the titanium alloy pipes with each other in order to use the titanium alloy pipes as structural members. In the case of joining the titanium alloy pipes with large diameters and thick walls through the TIG welding or so, it takes considerably much time for the welding. Besides, it becomes difficult to ensure the quality of the welded joint especially in the joining at the job site, accordingly there is another problem in that it is restricted to apply the titanium alloy pipes to large-sized structures required for the joining at the job site indispensably.